Review of ‘Evernote for Genealogy’ guidebook

How to use Evernote for Genealogy: A step-by-step guide to organise your research and boost your genealogy productivity

Author: Kerry Scott

Publisher: Family Tree Books, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2015

Review by Penny Mercer, March 2017

This is a well-written and easy to follow book on how to use this note-taking and information-organising software. The author uses Evernote to organise and classify information found, information needed, research plans according to repository and even DNA data matching.

The twelve chapters cover a basic introduction, how to input data, how to find data, how to tag data, different types and formats of data, sharing and collaborating, syncing, backing up and troubleshooting. Throughout there are screenshots, clear explanations and family history relevant examples. The appendices include a series of suggested templates for use by family historians.

Even though I have not yet tried the software, I found this book to be easy to follow. While clearly a fan and heavy user of the software, the author explains a few limitations, and is fair in assessing the features. One criticism I have is that the author doesn’t mention how this might, or might not connect with the use of traditional family history software.

I was about to download the software when I discovered that the company has made some changes since this book was published, particularly to pricing of the premium version. So before you invest a lot of effort in one version, you need to check the relative costs and benefits of the program options for your needs.